1. Field
The present invention relates to a system and method of tracking and/or avoiding harm to certain devices or humans. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, the present invention provides a highly accurate system for tracking the movement of troops, vehicles and other military assets (which may be collectively referred to as “military assets” or “blue forces”), and/or avoiding harm thereto.
2. Description of Related Information
While most weapons systems have embraced the latest technology to give our soldiers every possible edge, the light infantry soldier still relies primarily on his rifle and body armor to practice his trade. It is well established that better utilization of technology can help a soldier perform at a higher level as well as help keep the soldier alive.
One such system for improving information available to a soldier is a gunshot location system such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,139,222 issued to Baxter et al. One exemplary aspect of this system provides a plurality of man-wearable acoustic sensors which may detect gunshots and send pertinent information to a host computer via a wireless network. The host may use the differences in times-of-arrival from three or more sensors to provide a source location of gunfire.
As is well recognized in the art, the load carried by a light infantry soldier must be kept below a level where it impacts his ability to perform. Further, it would be useful, at all levels of command, to have precise troop positions available, whether for troops under that particular command or not. Such monitoring is sometimes referred to as “blue force tracking.” Having detailed troop positions available could significantly reduce the response time when soldiers find themselves in trouble and reduce the risk of having soldiers in the wrong place, i.e. caught in crossfire, caught under friendly fire, etc.
Finally, it could prove useful for any level of command to be able to communicate directly with any individual soldier. While many soldiers now carry cell phones or pagers, there is no system in place to selectively deliver a message to any particular soldier, except through time consuming processes.
A technological problem facing deployment of a soldier worn system, such as a gunshot detection system, is network management when there may be tens of thousands of nodes on the network, and the vast majority of such nodes are regularly in motion. As one can readily appreciate, in a battlefield situation, every sensor reporting every gunshot could produce a crippling amount of data.
Thus an advantage consistent with aspects related to the present innovations is the provision of systems and methods of blue force tracking.
Another advantage consistent with aspects related to the present innovations is the provision of blue force tracking through a multi-purpose sensor, such as employed in a gunshot location system, so that there is no duplication of on-soldier infrastructure such as GPS receivers, communication interfaces, and the like.
A further advantage consistent with aspects related to the present innovations is the provision of systems and methods of alerting a soldier that he is firing on friendly troops.
Still a further advantage consistent with aspects related to the present innovations is the provision of a layered network approach for communication among devices on a network such that communications at a squad level do not adversely effect the network bandwidth of a nearby squad and such that a any network device can communicate with any host and any level of command.